Call tracking system and method

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems for capturing and tracking call information relating to a call from a user to a merchant are provided. According to one embodiment of the disclosed subject matter, a request for a call to a merchant from a user on a device is received and a data connection is initiated with a call analytics platform over which user information is sent from the device to the platform. A unique number allowing the device to call the platform is then passed back to the device. The device calls the platform, call context data is captured, and the call is processed to the merchant. Information relating to the user and merchant call is tracked and logged.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application61/442,423 filed on Feb. 14, 2011, which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure relates in general to the field of call trackingand analytics.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Often, clients spending money on advertisements require call trackingand analytics services to help evaluate their return on investment.Traditionally, this type of call tracking and analytics has utilizedunique telephone numbers where a different telephone number is purchasedfor each advertisement. However, these telephone numbers cost clientsand advertisers significant monthly fees and, in order to providesufficient granularity to track which particular advertisement resultedin a sale, hundreds or thousands of unique phone numbers are required.Often, vast numbers of unique phone numbers are required because eachadvertisement, on each station, in each geographic region, and in eachparticular time slot requires a unique phone number to effectively trackthe efficacy that particular advertisement had on the user (i.e. whethera user calls a merchant due to the advertisement). For example, it hasbeen reported that one company uses over 35,000 different phone numbersto track the effectiveness of its advertising and that one of thelargest call tracking companies has purchased ten times the number ofnew phone numbers than one of the largest phone service providers. Witheach phone number costing as much as $1 to $2 per number per month inaddition to the costly maintenance and operational problems associatedwith managing a large amount of phone numbers, advertisers and calltracking companies may have substantial expenditures as a result of theneed for a large number of phone numbers.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore a need has arisen for a call tracking systems and methodswhich do not require a large number of phone numbers and decrease thecosts of cost tracking providers. In accordance with the disclosedsubject matter, call tracking systems and methods are provided whichsubstantially eliminate or reduce disadvantages associated withpreviously developed call tracking systems and methods.

Methods and systems for capturing and tracking call information relatingto a call from a user to a merchant are provided. According to oneembodiment of the disclosed subject matter, a request for a call to amerchant from a user on a device is received and a data connection isinitiated with a call analytics platform over which user information issent from the device to the platform. A unique number allowing thedevice to call the platform is then passed back to the device. Thedevice calls the platform, call context data is captured, and the callis processed to the merchant. Information relating to the user andmerchant call is tracked and logged.

These and other embodiments and aspects of the disclosed subject matter,as well as additional novel features, will be apparent from thedescription provided herein. The intent of this summary is not to be acomprehensive description of the claimed subject matter, but rather toprovide a short overview of some of the subject matter's functionality.Other systems, methods, features and advantages here provided willbecome apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of thefollowing FIGUREs and detailed description. It is intended that all suchadditional systems, methods, features and advantages that are includedwithin this description, be within the scope of any claims filed later.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS

The features, natures, and advantages of the disclosed subject mattermay become more apparent from the detailed description set forth belowwhen taken in conjunction with the drawings in which like referencecharacters identify correspondingly throughout and wherein:

FIG. 1 (PRIOR ART) is a graphic representation of an embodiment of acurrent system architecture;

FIGS. 2-6 are process flows of embodiments of the disclosed subjectmatter depicting major steps in handling, tracking, and logging of callsgenerated from a call request;

FIG. 7 is a graphic representation of an embodiment of the call trackingsystem architecture showing an example of the process flow ofinformation in response to a call request;

FIG. 8 is a graphic representation of an embodiment of the call trackingsystem architecture showing an example of the process flow ofinformation in response to a call request; and

FIGS. 9-13 are diagrams representative of mobile phone screenshotsshowing an example of a local mobile search publishing interfacepresented to a mobile device user to initiate a call request andinitiate tracking

In the figures, like elements should be understood to represent likeelements, even though reference labels are omitted on some instances ofa repeated element, for simplicity.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

The following description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but ismade for the purpose of describing the general principles of the presentdisclosure. The scope of the present disclosure should be determinedwith reference to the claims. Exemplary embodiments of the presentdisclosure are illustrated in the drawings, like numbers being used torefer to like and corresponding parts of the various drawings.

And although described with reference to the tracking and analytics of acall using a mobile smartphone, a person skilled in the art could applythe principles discussed herein to various devices and various forms ofcalling technologies including VOIP.

In the following disclosure, the terms “customer” and “advertiser” areused interchangeably to define the client responsible for presenting theimage to the user on the device, such as a mobile application developer,search engine developer or local search publisher, or the merchantcorresponding to the image itself. The term “merchant” is used toindicate the goods or service provider whom the user requests tocontact. The term “device” is used throughout this disclosure toindicate any call enabling machine allowing a user to request a call.Thus the term device, for example, specifically includes smartphones,mobile browsers, IVR (interactive voice response units), tablets,laptops, and desktops. The term “user” is used to indicate the requestorof the information and can be a person or IVR unit (interactive voiceresponse unit). Further, the term “advertisement” is used throughout thedisclosure to indicate any call generating source, including traditionaldevice advertisement media such as banner ads, search ads, and alsosearch results, links, or any other image or text that a user may selectto request a call.

Although discussed above with reference to an application, nearly anyother mobile environment may be used to initiate the call tracking, suchas: applications, browsers, phone calls, SMS (short messaging service),MMS (multi-media messaging service), cameras, IVR (interactive voiceresponse), etc. Finally, although discussed throughout with reference toa call analytics platform, the same goals may be reached without aninterception platform through the use of telecom provider information(e.g. access to the carrier's information), on-site hardware (e.g.hardware installed at the advertiser's location), or through the use ofsome other legal intercept platform.

The disclosed systems and methods provide for precise call tracking,logging, and monitoring without requiring thousands of unique phonenumbers and associates viewership of certain content with the receipt ofphone calls. A call analytics platform documents when selected ormonetized content is displayed on a device and associates the viewershipof that content with related phone calls from the device on which thecontent was displayed. A metric commonly used in advertising, thisallows agencies to track the effectiveness and response to theiradvertisements in a mobile environment. The information gathered allowsthe platform to properly and securely associate advertisement viewing toa specific user. Additionally and separately the disclosed method andsystem retrieves phone call data. The combination of the two data sets,information related to the device and user information (device userdata) and phone call data (call context data) enables the platform toassociate information (such as advertisements) viewed on the device(e.g. a smart phone or pda) to calls received for a merchant from thesame device. For example, a user looks at a pizza restaurantadvertisement on her phone and then calls the same pizza restaurant—thusthe role the advertisement played in motivating that phone call iscaptured by the disclosed subject matter.

In other disclosed embodiments each advertisement does not need a uniquetelephone number in order to track which advertisement generated thecontact and/or sale. The disclosed subject matter may also allowadvertisers to manage and monitor their advertising campaigns through aweb interface. Another aspect allows advertisers to list the real phonenumber of the companies they represent instead of using fake destinationnumbers. And yet another aspect of the disclosed subject matter is tocapture lost revenue from later placed calls, end users calling the“other” number, and manual calling, among other things.

FIG. 1 is a graphic representation of a system architecture showing atraditional process flow for call tracking. As shown in FIG. 1, everyadvertisement requires a different unique telephone number. A potentialconsumer dials the number associated with the particular advertisement,1-800-XXX-XXXX, and the call goes through the telephone network andtravels to a call routing component. Based on the phone number that wasdialed, the call routing component polls the configuration informationto determine which advertisement was associated with the dialed numberand which business number the call should be routed to. The call routingcomponent also passes information to the call statistics component whichlogs which phone number was called, what number called the phone number,call duration, and other tracking and logging criteria for reporting andbilling purposes. The call routing component then connects the call tothe advertiser or merchant (shown as Business Numbers in FIG. 1) via thetelephone network.

In operation, the disclosed subject matter provides for numberless calltracking and routing (meaning calls based on advertisements may betracked without dedicated tracking numbers) which significantly reducesthe amount of phone numbers required to effectively track a user's callbased on an advertisement.

FIGS. 2-6 are process flows of embodiments of the disclosed subjectmatter depicting major steps in handling, tracking, and logging of callsgenerated from a call request. The steps depicted in FIGS. 2-6 areconsistent unless otherwise noted.

FIG. 2 is a process flow of an embodiment of the disclosed subjectmatter depicting major steps in handling, tracking, and logging of callsgenerated from an advertisement (or any image). First, as shown in step2, a user (for example, a user may be a person or an IVR—interactivevoice response) selects an advertisement or a phone number on a device.The advertisement may, for example, come in the form of a mobile bannerad or mobile search ad displayed on a mobile phone in response tosearching by the user. Next in step 4, an on-device application, whichmay be in the form of a mobile application or a plug-in, SDK, or API,gathers information about the device and the user generating the call.This information may include, but is not limited to, the originatingphone number, time, date, GPS location, IMEI (International MobileEquipment Identity) number, advertisement identifier, advertisementinteraction (e.g. click, call, or impression), advertisement placement(e.g. application name, website, search term, application identifier),personal preferences, or previous interactions. Additionally, thisinformation may be gathered using known methods including, but notlimited to, buttons, button masking a number (displaying the phonenumber of a business in a graphic as opposed to text), form fields,cookies, application history search, browser transmitted information,caller information fields, application specific data, OS services, savedprofiles, or IVR prompts.

Then, as shown in step 6, a data connection (which may be, for example,an HTTP POST of a XML document) is initiated between the mobile deviceand a call analytics platform. The customer, such as the specific mobileapplication developer, is identified by the call analytics platformaccording to the information captured by the on-device application (orapplication plug-in, SDK, or API) and verified to be a valid customer.The customer's specific business tracking rules and requirements areapplied to the call tracking request to determine the call's eligibilityfor tracking. If the identified customer is eligible for tracking, thedata is then stored in a database associated with the call analyticsplatform, step 8.

In step 10, a unique ID is allocated to the specific information requestbased on information such as the availability of the originating phonenumber (e.g. whether it is or is not an unlisted or private number), thetype of device from which the request was made, OS of the device, andthe availability of SIP over the mobile network. Further, the unique IDmay be assigned to the specific information request using standardtelephony capabilities to associate user data with a call (e.g. ISDNuser data). This unique ID may be a telephone number, SIP user ID, orother mechanism used to tie the request data to the phone call. If it isa telephone number, the number may only be unique for a pre-determinedtimeframe (e.g. from the point of the posting of the data until the callarrives at the platform while still allowing the original user tore-dial and be connected to the correct merchant for a period of time)after which the number can be re-allocated and recycled for anothercall—this is called a temporary unique ID.

The unique ID is then pushed back to the device so a call may beinitiated to the call analytics platform, as shown in step 12.

In step 14, the device then pushes the call to the call analyticsplatform using the unique ID. The call analytics platform receives thecall from the device and call context information relating to the call,as shown in step 16. Call context data may include, for example,information such as the unique ID or dialed number, caller's number,etc. The context data is then stored in a database associated with thecall analytics platform in step 18.

Then, in step 20, based on the device user data and the context data itis determined whether media (such as, for example, an audioadvertisement, menu options, welcome greeting, or branding message) willbe played to the caller before connecting the phone call to therequested merchant, or whether media will be played to the merchant withinformation about the caller (such as location, source of the call,requested information, etc.) before connecting the caller. If an audioadvertisement is to be played, the call analytics platform determineswhether the audio advertisement is an “owned” advertisement or not—an“owned” advertisement is an advertisement owned by the application whichprovided the original advertisement to the user which initiated thephone call. Importantly, an owned advertisement does not have toadvertise the application itself or a good/service related to therequested merchant but rather may advertise any product or service. Ifthere is no owned advertisement to play then another advertisement maybe provided which could be used to promote anything including acompetitor of the original advertisement that initiated the firstcontact.

The call analytics platform then retrieves the appropriate media, step22, and plays it to the user, step 24. Optionally, the media may allowthe user to select an alternate destination to be transferred to (suchas alternate vendor, business extension, or merchant location). Forexample, during the advertisement the user may be prompted to press anykey to be connected with the alternate vendor, shown as step 26. If thealternate vendor is chosen (“yes”), the alternate vendor's phone numberis substituted as the destination number, step 27 otherwise the call iscompleted to the destination and tracked, step 28. The call informationis maintained and stored either during the call or shortly thereafter,as shown in step 30. Additional tracking and analytic information mayinclude, for example, the length of call, a recording or a transcriptionof the call, or other information.

In step 32, the analytic information which is captured and stored maythen be distributed according to wide a variety of methods, includingbut not limited to, thick or thin clients, displayed on a web basedinterface, extracted and emailed to a customer, or exported to anotheranalytic platform (e.g Salesforce, CRM, Google, etc.)

FIGS. 3-6 provide four embodiments of the disclosed subject matterdepicting major steps in handling, tracking, and logging calls generatedfrom an information request in which the steps depicted are consistentwith those in FIG. 2 unless otherwise noted.

FIG. 3 is a process flow of an embodiment of the disclosed subjectmatter utilizing automatic number identification (ANI). An advantage ofthe disclosed ANI system is simplicity—when the call analytics platformreceives a call it is matched to the Caller ID of the device, step 34“Confirm Mobile ID”, and the call information is stored, step 36, andsent/pushed via the internet to the device, step 38. However, acommercial disadvantage of this embodiment is that utilizing ANI haslimited terms of service in certain mobile application markets andlimitations with respect to caller ID blocking. The system receives themobile number from the data push before the call, makes the call in step40, and then receives the ANI information on receipt of the call, step42. By matching the mobile number and ANI information, calls may betracked without rotating numbers at all—allowing for the use of staticregional numbers and reducing load by up to 99%.

FIG. 4 is a process flow of an embodiment of the disclosed subjectmatter utilizing session initiation protocol (SIP). This SIPimplementation embodiment varies from FIG. 2 in that each call trackingrequest is assigned a unique SIP URI in response to the datapush/impression, step 50. The SIP URI (uniform resource identifier) isthen pushed to the device, step 52, and used to initiate a SIP Sessionwith the call analytics platform, step 54. The platform receives callcontext information and maps that information to the stored call data,56 This embodiment may be significantly more cost effective but alsorelies on a device data connection function and high quality internet.Importantly, because URI addresses are free and unique calls may betracked with increased granularity (a different number for every call),this method has an unmeasured increase in specificity over one numberper variable chosen to track.

Alternatively, the disclosed subject matter may utilize sessioninitiation protocol (SIP) and interactive voice response (IVR). The IVRServer/SIP implementation varies from FIG. 4 in that each informationrequest, such as the selection of a merchant advertisement, is assigneda SIP URI address (by impression or relationship) to initiate a callafter the data push. This requires another automated call handlingsystem (e.g. 411, menus, any robot or IVR that talks to a caller) tointerface with the call analytics platform. One advantage to this systemis that because URI addresses are free, calls may be tracked withincreased granularity by using a different number for every call, whichallows for an unmeasured increase in specificity over one number pervariable chosen to track—thus decreasing costs.

FIG. 5 is a process flow of an alternative embodiment of the disclosedsubject matter. In this total tracking embodiment, a key variation fromFIG. 2, 100% of the calls to a merchant (which may be a company orindividual) are tracked by reassigning the destination of theirpublished number to the call analytics platform. Thus, in operation,every call placed to the destination will be processed through the callanalytics platform first, before being connected to the merchant. Thisallows for a direct relationship with an end business, rather than witha service provider, wherein all incoming calls are received and handledby the call analytics platform then passed on to the business.

A user may select an advertisement for the merchant on a smartphone,step 58, or call the merchant directly, step 70. In the event themerchant's plain old telephone service number is dialed, step 70 and thecall is intercepted by the call analytics platform and the call datarecorded, step 72. Call information is captured from a variety ofsources including internet, mobile, and cellular tracking systems toidentify who and why each of those calls took place. This information isrecorded, step 72, and used to associate the call with action data, step64.

In the event the user selects an advertisement for the merchant on asmartphone, step 58, action data such as user actions on a websitebillboard, QR code, or NFC are captured (such as through search engineanalytics services), step 59, and sent to the call analytics platform,step 60, and stored, step 62. The action data is associated with calldata (all the information pulled by the call analytics platform duringthe call, step 72), in step 64. Unified data, the combination of actiondata and call data, is then stored in a database associate with the callanalytics platform in step 68.

Thus, the requested business may be provided with call tracking on everycall (recording, quality management, customer service training) withoutthe need for tracking numbers—providing an increase in informationvolume and a more holistic look at what actions generated calls.

FIG. 6 is a process flow of another alternative embodiment of thedisclosed subject matter. This system operates by placing two outboundcalls from a central server. One call goes to the consumer, step 72, andone call goes to the merchant, step 70. An advantage of this twooutbound call system is simplicity—when a call tracking request isreceived via the data connection of any device, the call analyticsplatform dials the destination number, step 70, and the device trying toreach that destination, step 72. Steps 70 and 72 are performedsimultaneously—similar in operation to a conference call. The calls arespliced, step 74, and the call analytics platform records and stores thecall action data, steps 76 and 18 respectively.

This system receives the mobile number and destination number from thedata push before the call. By using outbound dialing, user informationand call tracking data is tied together at the beginning of the call andinformation is not required to be associated together from differentsteps of the process after the call has been connected. Utilizing thisembodiment, calls are tracked without rotating numbers which reduces oreliminates failures based on Caller ID blocking, redials, call history,and missing data errors. However, commercial disadvantages include theterms of service limitations between smart phone manufacturers andwireless carriers as some wireless carriers do not allow SIP over their3G network.

FIG. 7 is a graphic representation of an embodiment of the call trackingsystem architecture showing an example of the process flow ofinformation in response to a call request. First, mobile application 90is installed on mobile device 92. Then the user of the mobile device isshown an image of a merchant phone number on the mobile application.When the user selects the phone number, a data connection is initiatedand data is transferred over the connection and collected by callcontext data collection component 94, to the call tracking system. Thiscall context data processing occurs slightly before the call to theadvertiser is actually completed; however, it is all but transparent tothe user. The call context data is then stored in call context datastorage 96. As an illustrative example, caller information 98 and calledinformation 102 is stored as call context data (information such asphone number of the user, phone number attempting to call, applicationnumber or ID, advertiser number or ID, time, GPS location).

A call analytics phone number, selected from phone numbers 100, is thentransferred back to mobile phone 92 and mobile phone 92 dials the callanalytics phone number. The call is then routed to call processing area104 which polls call treatment application 106 to determine how to treatthe call. Importantly, the call processing and routing may utilize PSTN,SIP, or other known audio processing.

Application profile system 108 feeds information to call treatmentapplication 106 so call treatment application 106 can determine how tohandle the current call. In one embodiment, application profile system108 is a database connected to a user web interface where advertisingagencies or independent advertising clients may monitor and configuretheir advertising campaigns. If call treatment application 106determines no intermediate audio advertisement (e.g. audio banner) is tobe played, call processing system 104 connects mobile phone 92 to theadvertising business phone number—business phone 130. However, if calltreatment application 106 determines an intermediate audio advertisement(e.g. an audio banner advertisement) is appropriate, advertisementselection system 110 is polled to provide the intermediate audioadvertisement. This intermediate audio advertisement may be pulled froman internal database, shown as internal audio banner advertisements 118,or external database of advertisements using external database searchcomponent 112. In one embodiment, the external database is comprised ofaudio advertisements provided by the application manufacturer, such aspay-per-call advertisements 114 and audio banner advertisements 116, andinternal audio banner advertisements 118 are provided when the externaldatabase does not have an appropriate intermediate audioadvertisement—for example if the end user has selected an advertisementfor a local pizza company; the external database is searched, but has nointermediate audio advertisement relating to pizza companies; theinternal database is polled to find a pizza company audio banner toplay.

The intermediate audio advertisement is then played to the user.Depending on the user's actions (e.g. did the user indicate a desire toconnect to the intermediate audio advertiser) the call is connectedeither to the original requested merchant's, business phone 130 or theintermediate audio advertiser's business phone number, advertiser phone132.

As the call proceeds, additional information is gathered and passed tocall detail record collection system 120 which tracks statistics 122(e.g. number of times the advertiser's business phone was called; lengthof call; number of times this particular mobile device has called; whichapplication delivered the user; which advertisement in the applicationgenerated the contact; how long the call lasted; record the call forlater transcription, to monitor if a sale resulted, or for otherpurposes; etc.). Call detail record collection system 120 transfersinformation to billing component 124 to properly invoice the client forthe service.

In one embodiment, there is also provided application developerinterface 126 via platform website 128 which allows developers tomonitor the statistics and billing for their application,advertisements, and clients.

FIG. 8 is a graphic representation of an embodiment of the call trackingsystem architecture showing an example of the process flow ofinformation in response to a call request. From the user's viewpoint,there is only one continuous uninterrupted call, however the outboundcalls depicted in FIG. 8 are performed at substantially the same time.In this embodiment, the mobile application provides an advertisement toa user. The phone number of the business is displayed to the user onmobile device 140; however, the phone number is an image button insteadof text. The image is used to keep the device's operating system fromdetecting the number and usurping the application's tracking componentby dialing the number. When the user clicks the phone number to call theadvertising business, mobile application code 142 on the device gathersand transfers data (e.g. phone number of mobile device, IMEI of mobiledevice, IP address of mobile device, phone number of advertisingbusiness, advertisement ID, application ID, etc.) via an HTTP dataconnection to the data collection component 146 on calling platform 144.Data collection component 146 stores the data in context database 148.

Mobile application 142 then connects the mobile device to call handlingcomponent 150. Mobile application 142 accomplishes this by dialing acall analytics phone number instead of the advertiser's business phonenumber. Additional context information is gathered, stored, and used tomatch the incoming phone call with a previous data connection.Additional unique identifier information may also be transferred duringthe data connection or at another time. Additional unique identifierinformation may include, for example, a device thumbprint, MEID (MobileEquipment Identifier) number, IMSI (International Mobile SubscriberIdentity) number, or the mobile device's model number.

Call handling component 150 then polls treatment database 158 for anintermediate audio advertisement and if one is available, pulls theintermediate audio advertisement from the audio database (such as AudioAd DB 162 as shown in FIG. 8). The intermediate audio advertisementselected (e.g. audio banner) is then played to the caller. Importantly,the call processing and call routing may utilize PSTN, SIP, or otherknown audio processing.

In this embodiment, user interface 140 is provided to the advertiser toconfigure intermediate audio advertisements including uploading theadvertisement and configuring when the audio advertisement should play.This may also include an auction style system such that the highestbidder's advertisement plays.

As shown in FIG. 8, there are three possible outcomes when polling thetreatment database: retrieve and play a standard audio banner 152;retrieve and play a promoted audio banner 154; or connect directly tothe original advertiser's business phone number 156. A promoted audiobanner is one provided by the application developer and may be pulledfrom the application developer's audio banner database. A standard audiobanner is one pulled from the internal database of advertisements.Having two such databases of audio banners allows an advertisement to bepulled from the internal database to “fill in” the gaps in theapplication developer's database in the cases where the applicationdeveloper does not have a relevant advertisement.

FIGS. 9-13 are diagrams representative of mobile phone screenshotsshowing an example of local mobile search publishing interfacespresented to a mobile device user to initiate a call request inaccordance with the disclosed subject matter—thus FIGS. 9-13 show anexample of a mobile application product utilizing the disclosed systemsand methods. FIG. 9 is an initial device interface allowing the user toinitiate mobile application Yellow Tracks 178.

In FIG. 10, the user has opened the mobile search application and theapplication has automatically detected the device's location, “Victor,N.Y.” Button 180 may also be selected to change or update the location.A user may search for business listings according to location, businesscategory, business name, or other common search identifiers. Searchfield 182 allows a user to search for a specific listing or a generalcategory. Clickable categories 184 allows a user to quickly and easilyselect commonly used search categories for local businesses. Selectinghelp button 186 initiates a live directory help session.

FIG. 11 shows the same initial search screen after the user has manuallyentered a search term in search field 182 and now may start the searchby pressing enter 188 on the touch key pad. FIG. 12 allows the user tosearch for a listing in a different city. The user may press currentlocation button 190 to update the GPS finder to the device's currentlocation or enter the location/city the user would like to search for alisting in location field 192.

FIG. 13 is a result screen showing presenting the results from the userssearch. As shown, the user has searched for “Food” 194 in “Victor, N.Y.”196. The search results, such as search result 198, are presented withcalling buttons, such as calling button 200, which allow the user tocall the corresponding business listing by clicking on the callingbutton. Thus, the user is able to effectively search and contactbusiness listings. Selecting a calling button is an example of a userinitiating a calling request for a merchant, step 2 in FIG. 2.Alternatively, the interface may display the actual number listings asan image or the user may call a business listing by saying the businessname. In operation, from the user's viewpoint after a calling button isselected the user is seamlessly connected to the requested merchantduring which corresponding media may be played, step 20 in FIG. 2.

In operation, the disclosed subject matter provides a call tracking andlogging system whereby a user selects an advertisement or listing on amobile device. Data is gathered about the device and the advertisement,transmitted to an call analytics platform via a data connection, andstored on the platform. If the mobile device's phone number isunavailable, the system pushes a unique ID to the device; otherwise, thestandard call analytics phone number is provided. The device dials thecall analytics phone number but lists the advertiser's phone number inthe call history. Upon connection to the call analytics platform,additional context information is stored. Based on the information/datareceived, the system determines whether to play an audio banneradvertisement. If played, the caller is provided the option of beingconnected with the alternate vendor. After the call is connected, thecall is monitored for duration and other statistics and/or recorded fortranscription or other purposes.

The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments is provided toenable any person having skill in the art to make or use the claimedsubject matter. Although example diagrams to implement the elements ofthe disclosed subject matter have been provided, one skilled in the art,using this disclosure, could develop additional hardware and/or softwareto practice the disclosed subject matter and each is intended to beincluded herein. In addition to the above described embodiments, thoseskilled in the art will appreciate that this disclosure has applicationin a variety of arts and situations and this disclosure is intended toinclude the same. It is intended that all such additional systems,methods, features, and advantages that are included within thisdescription be within the scope of the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for capturing and tracking callinformation, the method comprising: receiving a request for a call to amerchant from a user on a device, wherein said request for said call tosaid merchant is received in response to a selection of an imagerelating to said merchant on said device, said selection of an imagepresented as a banner ad resulting from a local listing search;capturing device user data relating to said device requesting said call;initiating a data connection between said device and a call analyticsplatform; sending said device user data to said call analytics platform,said call analytics platform performing the following steps: identifyinga customer number associated with said request and based on said deviceuser data; allocating a unique ID to said customer number, said uniqueID enabling said device to make a call to said call analytics platform;and sending said unique ID to said device via said data connectionbetween said device and said call analytics platform; calling saidunique ID from said device; capturing call context data relating to saidcall from said device; connecting said device to said merchant; andtracking and logging information relating said call between said deviceand said merchant.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said unique ID isan ANI matched to the caller ID of the device.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein said unique ID is an element that is a part of a SIP URI.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said unique ID is assigned using standardtelephony capabilities to associate said device user data with said callrequest.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein said unique ID is assignedusing a temporary number.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprisingthe step of playing audio media to said user based on said captureddevice data and said captured context data before connecting said deviceto said merchant.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein said device is amobile device.
 8. A system for capturing and tracking call information,comprising: a mobile device receiving a request for a call to a merchantfrom a user on a device in response to a selection relating to saidmerchant on said device, capturing device user data relating to saiddevice requesting said call, initiating a data connection between saiddevice and a call analytics platform, and sending said device user datato said call analytics platform; said call analytics platform storingsaid user data in a database, identifying a customer number associatedwith said request from said database, said call analytics platformallocating a unique ID to said customer number based on said device userdata, said unique ID enabling said device to make a call to said callanalytics platform, said call analytics platform sending said unique IDto said device via said data connection between said device and saidcall analytics platform; wherein said mobile device calls said unique IDfrom said device, said call analytics platform captures call contextdata relating to said call from said device and connects said device tosaid merchant, and said call analytics platform tracks and logsinformation relating said call between said device and said merchant. 9.The system of claim 8, wherein said call analytics platform plays audiomedia to said user based on said captured device data and said capturedcontext data before connecting said device to said merchant.
 10. Thesystem of claim 8, wherein said device is a mobile device.
 11. Thesystem of claim 8, wherein said unique ID is an ANI matched to thecaller ID of the device.
 12. The system of claim 8, wherein said uniqueID is an element that is a part of a SIP URI.